Diamdel Observes Steady Rough Demand in April

RAPAPORT... Diamdel concluded its latest rough auction, Diamdel Days, and observed that global demand held firm in April with India showing the most consistent growth. Diamdel's rough sale in April was 99.4 percent by lot.

"Global demand from rough diamond buyers for our products has steadily improved so far in 2012,'' said Neil Ventura, Diamdel's chief executive. ''This pick-up in demand is both broad-based across the geographic markets we serve and across the product categories we offer."

"Demand from Indian based businesses has shown the most robust growth so far this year, with a greater number of buyers committing more money to purchase products across the product range," he noted.

Diamdel offered 514 lots of rough diamonds, which included large stones, 2-carat-plus sizes, grainers, small stones and near-gem quality products at its third cycle of auctions for 2012. The sale was held from April 16 to April 30 and engaged 158 bidders some of which were Diamond Trading Company (DTC) sightholders. It sold 511 lots to 94 different buyers, with no buyer winning more than 6 percent of the lots sold. Non-sightholders won 59 percent of the goods sold by value at the auction.

Global demand for products in the small and near-gem quality categories showed the greatest increases in recent weeks, according to Diamdel, which sells an estimated 10 percent of De Beers production through online auctions.